NATO Stresses On Timely Pullout From Afghanistan

Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary-General of NATO, stresses on the timely pullout of the foreigner forces from Afghanistan, saying whatever is needed should be done to preserve the achievement in Afghanistan.

He says that there is close coordination between the United States and other NATO allies on the Afghan peace process.

“We will make decisions on our future presence together and when the time is right we will leave together,” said Stoltenberg.

Meanwhile, he stresses the role of the Afghan government in the peace process.

“We strongly support the work to establish inter-Afghan dialogue because the Afghan government has to be part of a peace process. And we have to do whatever we can to preserve the gains we have made in Afghanistan,” said Stoltenberg.

Though Stoltenberg is hopeful about the peace process, he describes talking about its result early.  

“We are closer to a peace agreement now in Afghanistan than we have been ever before. But we are still not there that we can announce the agreement. I hope we can do that in the near future but no one can say anything with certainty before everything is in place,” said Stoltenberg.

This comes as the U.S news agencies on Friday reported that the U.S. is set to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan as part of an initial peace deal to end the long-term conflict in the war-weary country.

According to the Washington Post, the Trump administration is preparing to reduce its troops in Afghanistan from nearly 14000 to between 8000 and 9000.

The agreement would require the Taliban to broker a peace deal directly with the Afghan government, and give assurances the country won’t be used as a launching pad for international terror attacks, the report said.